Preservation – an ongoing process
By Luke Anderson
July 13, 2016
The preservation of a place is never really complete. Even when a building is saved from demolition and renovated, it still faces constant pressure from daily use, neglect, and the looming possibility of being torn down in the future under different ownership. Even after a building has been torn down or a site has been redeveloped, preservation still does not cease. Preservationists make efforts to remember those lost places because of the value they still offer. The preservation of Heart Mountain has been a mix of both saving what is left and remembering what is gone. Many elements of the former internment camp have been lost forever, disassembled and relocated by the hands of weather, time, and people. The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation (HMWF) has tracked down and saved what does remain of the camp including returning the original barrack and root cellar. What has been lost forever is brought back to life by HMWF through its interpretive center. Preservation at Heart Mountain is by no means complete, and HMWF continually preserves the site every day through education, research, and maintenance.